Todd Gurley signing makes Bill O’Brien look even worse
By John Buhler
Signing Todd Gurley in free agency was a big move for the Atlanta Falcons, but a move that makes Bill O’Brien and the Houston Texans look even worse.
The Los Angeles Rams aren’t the only losers with Todd Gurley joining the Atlanta Falcons.
The Rams cut their former All-Pro running back on Thursday instead of paying him over $10 million annually. He’s not making up 8.46 percent of their cap space to play for a former division rival. Gurley will get a cool $5 million to spend the 2020 NFL season with the Dirty Birds, just down the road from where he starred in college at Georgia.
Gurley is reunited with his former Rams teammate Dante Fowler Jr. in Atlanta, as well as getting an opportunity to play in front of a fanbase who’s ecstatic to have him. The Falcons are the winner in this deal, just as the Rams are the losers. However, nobody lost more with this reported one-year, $5 million signing than Bill O’Brien‘s Houston Texans. It’s been a bad week for O’Brien.
Earlier in the week, O’Brien traded away arguably his best player in wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals. Though he got a second-round pick in return, O’Brien took on one of the worst contracts in football. Running back David Johnson is a lesser version of Gurley and one who will be a $11.15 cap hit in 2020 and a $9 million cap hit in 2021.
This has to make Texans fans sick to their stomach. Gurley will have more rushing yards in one season with the Falcons than Johnson will have in two with the Texans at a quarter of the cost. Also, O’Brien traded Hopkins to the Cardinals! Atlanta still has Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley in the receiving corps. Houston has an often-injured Will Fuller and some draft picks. Great job!
With this move, Atlanta better positions itself to contend for a playoff spot, maybe even a division title if the New Orleans Saints fall back and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers don’t live up to lofty expectations. By trading away Hopkins, Houston has essentially removed itself from the AFC South equation. That race will come down to the Indianapolis Colts and the Tennessee Titans.
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Though Johnson will too want to prove himself on a new team, and will probably have a solid first year in Houston on sheer volume alone, Gurley is on the Falcons and Hopkins is on the Cardinals. This is what happens when you let your head coach make front office decisions above his pay grade. You get burned by Steve Keim initially and Thomas Dimitroff later spits in the wound.